The drought of Sabers’ NHL-CECORD playoffs affects 14 years: what went wrong this season?
Buffalo, Buffalo’s NY-le Sabre have been eliminated from the playoffs, extending the drought of the playoffs of the NHL record to 14 seasons. Now they are linked to New York Jets for the drought of the longer active playoffs in professional sports.
The elimination of the Sabre became official on Tuesday when the Montreal Canadiens beat the Wings Red Detroit. Although the Sabre beat the hurricanes of Carolina on Tuesday and have won 10 of the last 13 games, they can no longer capture the canadiens in the standings.
“We have some work to do. We have work to do as a team, establishing the way we need to play, the way we need to manage the disc, one night outside, the turn after the turn,” said coach Lindy Ruff. “We know where we are. But to become a better team, you have to take every period, every game you are playing right now and use it as a springboard.”
This result was inevitable for the Sabre from the middle of the season. The Sabre had a series without victories at 13 games in December which sank them in the last place in the Eastern Conference, where they remained for more than three months.
Buffalo played a playoff game for the last time in April 2011. At that moment, each NHL franchise, including the Seattle Kraken expansion, played at least 14 playoff games. Thirty teams played at least 25 playoff games, 21 teams played at least 60 and seven teams have played more than 100 over time since the last time the Sabre have appeared in the playoffs.
The Sabre have entered this season with internal playoff expectations. They reported Ruff, a legend of franchise, to train the team, and clarified that he thought it was a “winning” situation. The Sabre bought Jeff Skinner in Offseason and brought five new attackers for their two lower lines. But it wasn’t enough to move the needle for a team that closed with 84 points last season. The Sabres have entered the season with over 6 million dollars in spaces for limits not spent and with the younger roster by average age in the NHL.
After a slow start, the Sabre made their way to the position of the playoffs from thanksgiving. But they revealed themselves during the series without victories at 13 games and have never been able to recover. The captain and player Rasmus Dahlin lost nine games during that series. In the meantime, the general manager Kevyn Adams has done nothing to change the roster while the losses have accumulated.
“Could I or should I have to do something?” Adams said after the commercial deadline. “I think a lot about it. But then from the downside, I think, but maybe there is a short -term shock that perhaps cannot be the best thing in the long term. And I beat myself. I lost something?”
The result was a team that was out of the playoff match before January 1st.
The inexperience of the Sabres has shown throughout the season. A year after Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen had a season of Breakout on the net, the saving percentage of Sabre’s team is the second worst in the NHL. They have the most seventh number of goals in the NHL but the fourth largest number of goals against. They have the 25th place of power in the NHL and the 23rd classified for the penalty. They have the third largest number of objectives of the first period in the NHL but a goal differential less-32 in the second and third period.
This season should lead to further changes this summer. Adams soon started on the deadline from the Dylan Cozens shopping center to the Senators of Ottawa as part of a trade that included the Josh Norris center that came to the other side. But Norris played only three games before losing the last few weeks with an injury.
However, there are other questions that they face this team. This was the fifth season with Adams as general manager. The Sabres not only did not play the playoffs during his mandate, but also regressed in each of the last two seasons. The owner Terry Peguula was present on Tuesday to see the team eliminate. He owned the team for 14 full seasons and the team lost the playoffs in each. At that time, he employed four different general managers and seven coaches. It remains to be seen if he wants to make another change, but both Ruff and Adams have another year for their respective contracts.
Buffalo’s roster will also need work. Jj Peterka, Bowen Byram, Ryan McLeod and Jack Quinn are all limited free agents. So it is Devon Levi, Who is in the HL But he has the opportunity to be the Backup goalkeeper of the Sabre next season. The Sabre did not spend the ceiling of the wage cap from the 2019-20-20 season shortened, but they could be pressed to do it if they hope to stop this drought at 14 seasons.
The loss put a strain on a fan base that historically helped Buffalo to give a handful above its weight as the second smaller market in the NHL. The participation of the Sabres is according to the second vision of the NHL in average capacity this season.
(Photo: Nick Turkeyro / Image images)
